Follow up to this post:
https://old.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/x7gz3e/looks_like_the_hammer_is_coming_down_on_remote/
Had a zoom check-in with my boss this morning. My no-showing at the meeting yesterday did not even come up. We talked about work stuff, seemed OK, but when we discussed who to put as as a contact for some public content I'm preparing, my boss suggested another person, not me.
I feel like that is a sign that they are getting ready to phase me out. This job has turned out to involve a lot of reading between the lines, sussing out agendas and power dynamics, so I gotta notice these little things.
However, being phased out is fine! It's a contract job anyway. I'm fine with being the hired gun, the technician who comes in to get a piece of work done and then moves on. At the beginning they seemed to have visions of it turning into a long-term thing and assumed I was on board & ready to uproot my life for it. So if they are picking up my signals, that's good.
I am bothered by one thing though. I coughed through that whole dam meeting and my boss didn't say anything about it. Not a “are you OK?” or similar. It doesn't contrast well with the team-building BS that gets slung all the time. Edit: Also, I'm supposed to go into the office next week so you'd think my cough would raise some alarm bells, what with all that's going on.